The past is commonly put to use for a variety of contemporary purposes. These may involve religious beliefs, political loyalties, ethnic affiliations or economic considerations. Alternative beliefs that run contrary to professional findings, whether historical or archeological, are widespread in contemporary society, and proliferate rapidly in electronic media. Using the Kensington Stone (pictured above) and several other objects as examples, Michlovic hopes to show the dimensions of alternative beliefs about the past in the contemporary Midwestern U.S., and illustrate some of the cultural and social factors involved in sustaining those beliefs. An argument will be put forward that the proper study of the past, contrary to popular understanding, is not the present, but the past itself.

About the Speaker

Michael Michlovic was educated in anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was awarded a BA in 1971. He received the M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Illinois, Urbana, specializing in prehistoric archeology. Michlovic participated in and directed archeological field projects in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Virginia, Illinois, and the Samoan Islands. Since 1975 he has been professor of anthropology at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Michlovic served for nine years as a member of the National Register of Historic Places State Review Board for Minnesota, is a past editor of The Minnesota Archaeologist, and past president of the Council for Minnesota Archaeology. He organized the department of Anthropology and Earth Science at Minnesota State U. Moorhead and served as chair from 1999-2011. His interests are in the prehistoric Plains and Upper Midwest, archeological theory, and folk and alternative beliefs in the past.